You don’t need us to tell you that violence in the workplace has become a major societal problem. You probably also recognize that taking steps to keep violence out of your own workplace is not only a moral but a legal imperative. But what you may not know is exactly how to go about preventing workplace violence. And that’s why we created this 10-step plan for you (as well as a Model Policy you can use to implement it).
Related reading: Model Workplace Violence Policy Statement
THE LAW OF WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
Question: What law says an employer must take steps to prevent workplace violence?
Answer: Failing to prevent violence in the workplace can make an employer, including your law firm, liable under at least 4 different laws:
- U.S. OSHA laws, which impose a “general duty” on employers to prevent “recognized hazards,” potentially including violence;
- OSHA laws in some states, including California, Washington and New York (for public employers), which impose more detailed and specific workplace violence prevention duties on employers;
- Negligence law, which could result in your having to pay money damages for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent a victim from being attacked at your law firm’s offices (and/or for negligently hiring or retaining a violent person who does the attacking); and/or
- Employment discrimination laws to the extent the victim is an employee targeted on the basis of race, religion, sex, age or other personal characteristic protected by civil rights laws.
Related reading: 5 ways you can be liable for workplace violence
10 steps to take to manage your liability risks
There are 10 basic things an employer is expected to do to prevent violence at its workplace:
Step 1: Perform a workplace violence hazard assessment
The workplace violence hazard assessment must be carried out by a competent person from within or outside your law firm and include:
- Assessment of hazards posed by the physical environment;
- Assessment of hazards posed by the nature of the work, e.g., whether employees need to deal with violent or mentally disturbed clients;
- Analysis of history of violent incidents at your workplace in the past 3 years;and
- Surveying your employees and supervisors to find out if they think there are risks of violence at your workplace.
Step 2: Publish a workplace violence policy statement
The next phase is to establish a workplace violence prevention program to address any violence hazards you identify in your assessment. The first step in implementing a prevention program is for your managing partners to issue an appropriate written workplace violence policy statement. Like this Model Policy Statement, yours should:
- Acknowledge the rights of employees to work in a violence-free workplace;
- Express the managing partners’ commitment to provide a violence-free workplace; invest protect all workers from violence at work;
- Define what you mean by workplace violence;
- Outline your law firm’s workplace violence prevention program;
- Reassure employees of their right to report incidents or threats of violence without reprisal or retaliation; and
- Clearly state that acts or threats of violence will not be tolerated and that those who author them will be held accountable and face discipline up to and including termination.
Step 3: Implement physical and engineering controls
As with other workplace hazards, the preferred way to control violence hazards is to use engineer controls to eliminate or significantly reduce them, which might include:
- Bullet-proof glass partitions, fences and other physical barriers;
- Locks or buzzer systems on doors;
- Security cameras;
- Alarm systems, panic buttons and other signaling devices; and
- Curved mirrors in hallways or concealed areas.
Step 4: Implement safe work procedures
Where totally eliminating violence hazards isn’t feasible, you need to adopt safe work procedures for your employees to follow when carrying out potentially dangerous activities like handling cash, dealing with potentially violent clients, working alone at night or even travelling to and from work.
Step 5: Give employees a way to call for immediate help
You need to ensure employees can call for help in case they’re confronted with violence by providing phones or other emergency communications equipment, contact information and instructions on how to get help fast.
Step 6: Establish a system for employees to report violence
There must be a way for employees to report violence. You may also need a confidentiality and non-retaliation policy to ensure that employees actually report acts and threats of violence.
Step 7: Establish procedures to investigate violence
Your program must include procedures for investigating reports of workplace violence filed by employees in a prompt, comprehensive and fair manner.
Step 8: Discipline employees for violence
You must have and properly implement a policy you can use to hold employees accountable for acts of violence. This Model Policy includes a section providing for discipline that you can adapt.
Step 9: Deliver workplace violence training
You must provide appropriate workplace violence training and instruction to any employees who are at risk of violence before they encounter such risks; training should address, at a minimum:
- The actual violence hazards to which the employee is exposed;
- What the employee should do to protect himself/herself from those hazards; and
- How to report threats or acts of violence.
Related reading: Employee briefing: 6 tips for preventing workplace violence
Step 10: Monitor your prevention program
You should review your workplace violence prevention program at least once a year and:
- Immediately after incidents of violence occur at your law offices;
- Before making physical alterations to your office or site (or work operations) that may create new risks or alter the risk dynamic on which your current program is based; and/or
- Immediately after any other red flags arise that call into question the effectiveness of your current prevention program.